by S. Ann Cole
Before I could make a quip, his phone went off again. “Sup, baby girl?” he crooned down the line. “Heading out to lunch with a friend … Oh shit, I know, I forgot again … Okay, okay, would you stop cussing me out, please? You know I can’t sleep when you’re mad at me … Uh, actually I’m about a minute away from your building. I’ll just pass by now.”
After he ended the call, he said nothing more to me, so I made a show of wiping the back of my hand across my forehead and saying, “Phew! Does this mean I’m finally set free from this lunch date?”
Lovello glanced at me and his eyebrow raised over the rim of his shades. “No.”
“Lookie here, Pretty Boy, you’re not gonna stop at your girl’s house and leave me to wait for you in your car while you run inside for a little slap and tickle. I’m a woman, not a girl. You manipulated me into this lunch, so take me to lunch. Or I swear to God that while you’re in your girl’s warmth releasing sperm, your expensive tires will be releasing warm air.”
Lovello erupted into such an infectious laughter that I struggled to keep a serious expression. He pulled over to the curb of a building with the marquee, France’s Fashion House HQ, and sat back in his seat still chuckling. His skin tone was a glowing warm-gold against the chocolate-brown of his car seat. And his hair, now dry, had restored its natural unkempt look.
Dios, he was beautiful.
Removing his aviators and pinning me with his gaze, he asked, “Are you jealous? I thought you said you didn’t like me.”
“I have the feeling I’m going to be saying this to you a lot: Get over yourself!” I unbuckled my seat belt. “I can’t be jealous of someone I despise and is merely tolerating for a few hours in order to keep you away from my business. And why the hell are we at a bloody fashion house?”
Lovello shook his head at my denial and exited the car, then rounded to my side and opened the door. “C’mon. Instead of getting that ‘slap and tickle’ by myself, let’s get it together.”
He received the full force of my glare. “So now you want to introduce me to her? What the hell do you take me for?”
Lovello shrugged. “Why is it a big deal? You’ve made it abundantly clear that you don’t want me. Therefore, we’re just friends, right?”
The libertine’s gaze predictably drifted to my bare legs when I swung them out of the car and stood. “Not even friends. You’re a damned ailment, that’s what you are.”
Ignoring my words, he closed the car door and took hold of my hand, leaving me no choice but to walk along with him. He pushed open the glass door of the building and we entered a wide space that popped with colors. The walls were painted a neon-green with hot-pink vector designs. There were weird-shaped chairs in various colors and black mannequins showcasing over-the-top apparels of über-bright colors. In the middle of the room was a spiraling white staircase that I assumed led up to the third floor. Due to being tugged off to an elevator, I hadn’t much time to adore Wonderland.
“Seriously? It’s three floors. You couldn’t walk three floors?” I asked.
“No. My legs are still sore from your punitive exercises.”
I smirked. “Should’ve signed up for something less intense.”
“And miss out on seeing you hot and sweaty? Not a chance. Getting to see you wet and panting is worth every sore.”
Sneaking a peek up at him, I found that he was staring straight at me, and there it was, the tingle. More intense than ever. And I couldn’t, for the life of me, pull my eyes away from his grays that were now molten. Suddenly I felt warm, too warm. The elevator doors opened and I sighed in relief, but Lovello still kept his eyes on me, his face serious.
“Why are you relieved?” he asked, his fingers tightening around mine.
My lips parted as I took a breath, but then the corner of my eye captured a figure and I turned to the sight of a gorgeous woman with a heart-shaped face. She stood in a cute summer dress with her hands planted on her curvaceous hips, while her bright brown eyes glowered at Lovello.
Lowering her gaze to our joined hands, she lifted a perfectly plucked eyebrow in questioning. Lovello, finally tearing his eyes from my face, released my hand and moved towards her in three long strides then lifted her off the ground in a hug, twirling her around while she giggled and begged for him to stop, squealing that she’d just eaten. She had curly brown hair that rippled past her hips; and as Lovello twirled her, the riot of curls whipped through the air. Damn, that was a lot of hair.
Lovello finally set her back down on her feet and I couldn’t help admiring how gorgeous she was. She turned to me with speculative cognac-brown eyes. “Love,” she said in a soft voice. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
For some reason, a nerve somewhere near the ‘anger’ part of my brain, ticked at her endearment for him and I wanted to hate her. But Lovello returned to my side and wrapped his arm around my waist, and, inexplicably so, I loved the feel of it.
Dios, what the hell is wrong with me?
“Sadie, this is Axia. I’m not sure who or what to introduce her as because she says we aren’t friends, neither does she want me. She labeled me a ‘plague’ and an ‘ailment’, to be exact.” He glanced down at me with a wicked grin and I narrowed my eyes at him. “And Axia, this is my beloved sister-in-law, Sadie.”
Before I could stop my reaction, my shoulders relaxed in relief as I covertly blew a steady breath. But such did not go unnoticed by the detestable man with his hand around my waist. Now I understood that she’d used ‘Love’ in short for Lovello.
Sadie revealed a genuine smile. “Someone who’s immune to Love’s charms? Dear God, I never thought I’d see the day!” Instead of shaking my hand, she pulled me into a hug. This was not my style. Hugs were not my thing, I preferred handshakes. But deciding not to be rude to this woman’s warm welcome, I returned the hug rather awkwardly.
Releasing me, Sadie turned her attention back to Lovello. “Come along with this stunner who’s woman enough to rebuff your smart ass. I have to leave here in less than an hour for New York.” She spun and walked off, gesturing for us to follow.
Tightening his arm around my waist, Pretty Boy Nelson leaned down and pressed his lips to my ear with the question, “You were relieved again. Why?”
Feeling my heart taking on a strange beating pattern, I swatted his hand away from me and stalked off in Sadie’s direction. The truth is, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t have given him an answer to that question, because I knew it not.
Lovello stood with his arms and legs stretched wide while Sadie and her assistant etched around him taking measurements and tailoring him into a tux. While I impatiently waited and looked on in silence, I learned that Sadie would be getting married to Natalio Nelson, the bad-ass brother, in three weeks. Everyone else’s attire had already been sorted out except Lovello’s, because he’d spent more time running around with “clueless bimbos” and kept missing his fitting appointments, said Sadie. As Sadie went on berating him and he continued to tease her in response, a pretty, dark-haired woman with bright green eyes swanned into the room. “Hey, biatch!” she greeted Sadie.
Sadie smiled at the woman while she held two raw pieces of material on Lovello’s arm. “Hey, Kels.”
“I thought you’d be ready by now,” said Green-eyed Girl.
“Yeah, but this boor chose today of all days to come by,” Sadie replied.
Lovello looked over to Green-eyed Girl. “Didn’t know you were still in San Fran. You’re going to New York, too?”
“Hell, yeah!” she exclaimed. “My girl’s kicking asses and I gotta be by her side.”
Lovello shook his head with a ‘yeah right’ expression. “Or is it because Sadie told you Trev’s gonna there? Your chances of landing that sucker are nil, Kels.”
“A girl can dream, Love.” Green-eyed Girl then turned to me and smiled. “Heya, I’m Kelsy. Sadie’s ride or die.”
Holding out my hand for a handshake, I perfunctorily replied, “Axia.”
&nbs
p; She frowned at my hand for a moment before taking it, waiting to hear who ‘Axia’ was. Sadie popped her head around from behind Lovello and answered Kelsy’s silent question. “Axia is a, um, well, let’s just say she’s possibly the only woman on earth who’s not attracted to Love. Though I don’t think she knows that it would have been better for her if she’d at least pretended that she is.” Her head disappeared behind Lovello again as she said the latter.
“Whoa!” Kelsy exclaimed. “You’re seriously not affected by this walking sex machine? Are you a real person with a live, blood-pumping heart?”
Refusing to engage in this conversation, I just stared at her. I’d agreed to lunch, and here I was sitting in a fashion house against my will, waiting for Lovello’s impromptu fitting to end so I could finally get done with this blasted deal, get him out of my hair, and go back to my normally controlled, hug-less and tingle-free life.
Kelsy made a face at me when I didn’t answer and Lovello shot me a serious stare. Sadie, now crouching at Lovello’s feet sticking pins into materials, flashed me warm smile as if she understood me.
Kelsy shrugged and plopped herself down in a feathery green chair. “Well kudos to you for not falling for his tricks like those clueless bimbos who are perpetually tugging at his arms and legs as if he were the last lamb in the field.”
Lovello laughed out. “What is it with you women always calling other women ‘clueless bimbos’?”
“Because they are,” all three of us answered in unison, though my blend was said in a bored monotone, while Kelsy and Sadie’s were said in exclamation.
Lovello laughed harder. “Hey now, you two,” he said referring to Sadie and Kelsy, “are two warm, kind-hearted, and humane girls. Don’t you dare follow that one over there.” He pointed to me. “She’s cold and mean. Cruella Deville in living colors.”
A laugh came up in my throat but I forced it back down and glowered at Lovello instead, while Kelsy giggled.
“Ow!” Lovello suddenly yelped.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. The pin’s right here. I told you not to move, Love,” Sadie said in a suspiciously innocent tone.
Unnoticed by Lovello, Sadie glanced over at me and winked. I returned a toothless smile, knowing right there and then that I liked her.
Lovello pulled up to the curb of a restaurant called White Roses. It’s a recently opened restaurant and there’s been quite a buzz about it as the day restaurant. But I’d never gotten the time to check it out and was actually glad about eating here for the first time.
Lovello, who’d been quiet for most of the drive since we left Sadie’s place, took my hand and led me inside the all-white restaurant. White tables and chairs with large marble vases of white roses, and floor-to-ceiling windows that were designed to be transparent on the inside but opaque on the outside. We walked past a crescent, stainless steel bar and started up a discrete staircase where we stumbled into Natalio Nelson who was on his way down.
Lovello’s eyes shone with love when he saw his brother and they immediately wrapped themselves into a hug.
“I should kill you,” Lovello said, punching his brother. “I was just by your fiancée and she told me you’ve been back from Japan two days now. Couldn’t have called me?”
“Calm down, Love,” Natalio smiled. “I’d planned on stopping by tonight. Since I came back I’ve been busy with this damned restaurant. The manager was a waste of time. So I sacked him and now I’ve gotta be keeping an eye this new asshole.”
“Well, still pass by later. I miss ya, man.” Again, he curved a possessive arm around my waist to introduce me. “This is Axia. Axia, I assume you already know my brother, Natalio.”
Natalio shook my hand. “You look a tad familiar … ah,” he said as realization dawned. “You’re the owner of PSFC.”
Nodding in confirmation, I stared into the intense blue eyes of a man who I’d once had a major crush on when I’d just moved to San Francisco and started on my gym. My choice of using everything ENEN wasn’t just because his equipments were top-of-the-line, but because I’d seen him once at a gala, and his brooding, all-black persona had me intrigued. But he’d never taken notice of me and that crush had soon dissipated. To top it off, he was no longer an all-black brooder, but an all-white smiler. Dressed in white flannel pants and a white shirt with his loose dark hair dangling on his shoulders, he was looking everything akin a white Knight, and I couldn’t think of anyone else who’d look better on his arm than his gorgeous, curly-haired fiancée.
“From ENEN himself: thank you for being such a loyal customer.”
“You’re welcome. I like quality and that’s what you give,” I replied.
Lovello scoffed. “That’s not what you said this morning. Now you’re sucking up to him?” He fixed his gaze on Natalio. “She said putting a time limit on a gift means it’s not really a gift and that you should take your gifts and shove them up your ass.”
Dios mío! I slammed my elbow into his side and he groaned in surrender then started to laugh.
Natalio also laughed. “Really now? Well, for you, I’ll remove the time limit. Happy?”
“Very.”
“Be sure to stop by later, bro,” said Lovello in a serious tone. “I need to talk to you about your decision for NIFTZ. Sadie’s not too happy about it.”
Natalio ran a hand through his hair, his face now tightened with anxiety. “She talked to you? What did she say? It’s so damn hard to get through to her when she’s sulking. And don’t tell me that it’s my decision because you know damn well it’s Father’s decision and not mine.”
Lovello pulled me off. “We’ll talk later, man. My stomach’s howling. The menu better be good, or else I’m not paying.”
Natalio snorted. “Do you ever pay?”
“That’s because the menu’s never good,” Lovello chuckled as we continued up the stairs.
We stepped out onto a private balcony which had a circular, white leather couch that could comfortably seat ten people and a similarly shaped, white marble table. A large turquoise vase of white roses was set in the center, and a massive white umbrella stretched over the area to shade off the glare of the sun. The area seemed to be reserved for special guests, and I was somewhat glad for the privacy.
Once we were seated side-by-side, which Lovello insisted on, we quietly went through the menu. He hadn’t been his usual flirty self since we left the fashion house and had only talked as much when he ran into his brother.
Without looking at me, he asked, “Decided on what you want?”
“Yeah. Who’ll wait us?”
He reached under the table and pressed a button that I hadn’t noticed before. Seconds later, a waiter walked out onto the balcony with a jug of chilled water. I made my order of Chicken Alfredo, and Lovello ordered Flat Iron Steak Sandwich. Once the waiter left, I decided to break the awkward silence. “You’ve been quiet, Pretty Boy.”
He jerked his face to me, frowning as if surprised at the observation. “I have?”
“Yep. But I don’t mind, really. The less you talk, the sooner this lunch will be over, and the deal will be sealed.”
Then if you don’t mind why the hell did you break the silence, liar?
“You really don’t like me, do you?”
In lieu of answering, I took up my glass of water and sipped, training my gaze forward.
Lovello sighed. “You see? If I’ve been silent, then this is why. I don’t know how to go about communicating with you. You’re just so strange … I-I don’t know … you’re different. One minute you’re straightforward, showing unconcealed hatred for me, and I think that’s who you are and how you truly feel. Fine, I can work with that. But then the next minute you have this … look in your eyes. And you don’t mind me touching you. That confuses me, so I’m not sure what end to approach you from because I never know what your reaction is going to be. And what’s with all the relieving sighs?”
I turned to him. “Then if I’m such a jigsaw puzzle, why are you putting
yourself through all this trouble? Why continue to annoy me, being the bane of my existence?”
“Because I really want to get to know you, Axia. You’ve gotten to me. Big time.”
“And I want to not know you.”
“I get that. Stop trying to wound my ego at every turn.”
“Good. Then give it up!”
“No,” he said firmly.
“Why not? You know this isn’t going anywhere. I’m never going to sleep with you.”
“I just want to be able to make you smile. I’ve never seen you smile. You’re always so serious.” He sounded sincere enough.
“You’re going after an impossible goal, Pretty Boy.”
Smiling, he reached out his hand to brush his thumb over my cheek. “I like it when you call me that. In that faint Hispanic accent, it’s sexy as hell.”
Bemused as to why I didn’t recoil from his touch, I could only utter, “Then maybe I should stop.”
It was an enigma to me why I liked, no, loved the feel of his touch so much. Why I loved it when he held my hand and led me. Why I loved it when he possessively wrapped his arm around my waist. I’ve never been that girl: the girl who likes it when men do little things like that. Well, only once in my teenage years, for a fleeting moment when I’d just started dating my college boyfriend. But he’d quickly changed me from that girl, making me the unaffectionate wretch I am today.
Lovello’s touch, though, did something to me. His touch made me want to be touched. Made me want to be held by the hand and be tucked at his side.
His hand fell from my face at the same time he sighed, and for the first time I wished I knew what he was thinking. The blame of confusion shouldn’t be cast on him when I couldn’t even understand my own feelings. I was just as confused about my reactions as he was.
In a few minutes, the waiter was back with our food, and I was reminded how hungry I was. No time was spared between the second the waiter placed the dish on the table and the full fork of Chicken Alfredo that headed straight to my mouth.
